Trump keeps praising a controversial American general whose actions nearly prompted World War III

Donald
Trump holds a rally with supporters in Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.
September 24, 2016.REUTERS/Jonathan
Ernst

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump once again on
Monday invoked the name of a controversial US Army general during
the presidential debate — a seemingly odd choice, considering the
officer almost started another world war and was later fired
for insubordination.

Hillary Clinton "tells you how to fight ISIS on her website,"
Trump said of
the Democratic nominee. "I don't think Gen. Douglas MacArthur
would like that very much."

MacArthur has quite a storied, yet controversial, military
career. He served in World War I and World War II, and received
the Medal of Honor for his defense of the Philippines in 1942.
But his actions in Korea almost led to a third world war, and
a very public spat between MacArthur and President
Harry Truman resulted in his firing for insubordination.

"It was with the deepest personal regret that I found myself
compelled to take this action," Truman said in 1951,
telling the nation he would be relieving the general of his
command. "General MacArthur is one of our greatest military
commanders. But the cause of world peace is more important than
any individual."

The general had gone directly against the president and
lost. Yet Monday was hardly the first time Trump has praised
MacArthur.

"Remember the old days of General MacArthur and General Patton,
and these great generals," Trump previously said at
the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2015, when he was
still weighing a run for president. "General MacArthur is
spinning in his grave when he sees what we do."

Crossing the border

2nd Infantry Division
Chongchon RiverJames Cox/US
Army

On June 25, 1950, communist forces from North Korea crossed the
38th parallel into South Korea. The surprise attack resulted
in numerous cities being overrun — to include Seoul — and the
United Nations intervened.

MacArthur was put in command of all American troops
in Korea, tasked with beating the communist forces back
while also trying to minimize outside influence from China
and the Soviet Union. Though defense cuts to the US military
resulted in some initial failures, MacArthur eventually succeeded
in driving North Korea back to the border in the fall
of 1950.

Meanwhile, Truman was worried that China might enter the war, but
MacArthur assured him the chances of that were slim.

His assurances proved incorrect, and hundreds of thousands
of Chinese soldiers attacked American lines during the winter of
1950. The assault later led to a stunning defeat of two US Army
divisions, which the Armed Forces Journal called
"the greatest battlefield defeat in the Army's modern history."

The "limited war" that Truman wanted was about to expand beyond
his control, as MacArthur
was asking for permission to bomb inside China and help
nationalist forces from Taiwan to invade the country.

A potential World War III was about to start.

'There is no substitute for victory'

Gen. Douglas
MacArthurWikipedia

Instead of seeking an expansion of the war, Truman disagreed with
MacArthur's push to attack China. With the war deeply unpopular
at home, the president was trying to end it by opening
peace negotiations in early 1951.

General officers are supposed to give frank advice on what
they believe is the best military strategy — while avoiding
any public statements on policy — because they
are ultimately subordinate to the president in the chain of
command. As retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said
in 2012, it is essential for service members to remain
neutral in politics and follow the legitimate orders of whoever
is above them, since the military is "not a special-interest
group."

The "politicized,
erratic and egotistical" general was undermining
the president in public statements and in private communications
with politicians back in the US, who were urging him to
leave the military and run for president himself.

MacArthur was considered a "media whore" of his
time, Daniel Drezner, a professor of international affairs at
Tufts University,
told Reuters. And he wasn't just insubordinate to Truman: As
Tom Ricks has noted, MacArthur holds the unique record among
military officers of defying
three US presidents.

A scathing letter MacArthur wrote in March 1951 to a
Republican congressman was the final straw for
Truman.

The letter, which was read on the House floor on April 5,
directly criticized the president, challenging his authority and
ultimate command over the military as commander-in-chief.

"If we lose the war to communism in Asia, the fall of
Europe is inevitable, win it and Europe most probably would avoid
war and yet preserve freedom," MacArthur
wrote. "As you pointed out, we must win. There is no
substitute for victory."

Historian David McCullough later
wrote that "virtually all that he said was bound to provoke
Truman" — and it did.

Days later, Truman, along with his advisers and the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, agreed that MacArthur had to be fired. He was
replaced by Gen. Matthew Ridgway.

It was a tough decision at the time: With MacArthur's public
pronouncements and record in World War II, he was loved by the
American public. Some even called for Truman's impeachment.

Though MacArthur's legacy remains controversial, Truman's
decision to assert civilian control over the military and avoid a
war with China has been regarded
much more positively among historians.

"I fired him because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the
president," Truman later
explained. "I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a
bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the laws for
generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in
jail."

'I don't want my generals being interviewed'

Besides Trump's praise of controversial generals like MacArthur
or Patton, he also brings them up as the heroes America needs now
because they did not reveal their plans ahead of time to the
enemy. Trump says he would "utterly destroy ISIS," though he has
not explained how.

And he often brings up those same generals as his reason:
Not wanting to tip off the enemy.

"I don't want my generals being interviewed," he
said at a rally earlier this year.

But this line of reasoning deals with tactical decisions, not
strategy — a distinction Trump never makes.